I. INTRODUCTION

A. Superman

2. There’s something so alluring
about the ability to fly & to accomplish such amazing feats of strength.

3. Hollywood has discovered that movies about
Superheroes are usually profitable.

a. They appeal to
something in us that yearns to be heroic.

b. It isn’t just
about flying, or lifting cars, of stopping bullets.

c. We want to make our
lives count – we long to make a difference.

d. We hope the world is
a better place for our having lived in it.

e. Many think it takes
super-powers to make that happen.

B. Not So

1. Not so.

2. Today we take a look at an ordinary guy who
discovered the source of extra-ordinary strength & tapped into it to do
something great.

3. It turns out you don’t have to be from
Krypton, or be bit by a radioactive spider in order to accomplish superhuman
feats.

II. TEXT

A. V. 1

1Now
it happened one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who
bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison
that is on the other side.” But he did not tell his
father.

1. First off – let’s set the scene.

2. Saul is the first king of Israel.

a. But he has yet to
begin the primary task he’s been appointed to
–

b. Liberating Israel from the oppression of the Philistines.

3. Samuel, the last Judge of Israel, had begun
the liberation movement a short time before.

a. He’d then
passed it off to Saul as the new king.

b. But Saul
hadn’t done much yet.

c. And as a result, the
gains Israel had under Samuel were lost as the Philistines moved back in to
take possession of several strategic locations inside Israeli territory.

4. In ch. 13 we read that Saul’s son
Jonathan with a thousand men took a Philistine outpost.

5. The Philistines responded by bringing up a
massive army to Michmash, in the heart of Israeli territory.

a. From there they sent
out raiding parties to the north, west, & east,

b. Trying to goad
Saul’s army into open battle.

6. But in the face of so many, most of
Saul’s men deserted. Only 600 remained.

7. The end of ch. 13 tells us that what made the
coming conflict even more lop-sided was that the
Philistines had made sure the people of Israel had no ability to make iron
weapons.

a. The only iron Israel possessed was farm tools.

b. And even then, they
had to go to special Philistine blacksmiths to get them sharpened.

c. All Israel had for metal weapons were the bronze spears & swords they’d brought out of Egypt 400 years before, along with the plunder they’d taken in the conquest of Canaan.

d. But most of those
were in an advanced state of decay & easily broken when struck by modern
iron.

e. The upshot was that
most of Israel’s weapons were wood or stone.

f. Which means
while the Philistines were using the latest technology of the Iron Age, Israel was still living in the Stone Age.

8. During WWII, when Hitler invaded Poland with his blitzkrieg, his lightening war, rolling hundreds of tanks
across the fields & flying hundreds of planes across the
skies, the Poles came out to meet the invaders on horses! It was
no contest.

9. Such was the
disparity between the well-ordered army of Philistia & the rag-tag
farmer-soldiers of Israel.

10. One day, as Saul & his 600 loyal hold-outs were
camped at Gibeah a few miles from the main Philistine army at Michmash, his son
Jonathan had an idea.

a. Why not go scout out
the enemy lines.

b. So he turned to his
armor-bearer who helped him put on & maintain his battle dress & said
– “Let’s go check it out.”

e. Though Saul had been
given the task of delivering Israel, he refused to engage.

f. The more he
waited, the more the enemy secured their positions, while his own troops became
demoralized & deserted.

11. Jonathan had had enough waiting & decided it was time
for action.

B. Vs. 2-3

2And Saul
was sitting in the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is
in Migron. The people who were with him were about six
hundred men. 3Ahijah
the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of
Eli, the Lord’s priest
in Shiloh, was wearing an ephod. But the people did not know that Jonathan had
gone.

1. When Jonathan & his armor-bearer left,
they did so secretly – no one else knew.

2. As for Saul, instead of making plans for
battle, he was sitting in the shade in a nice neighborhood of his hometown.

3. Besides his dwindling force of 600 was the
powerless descendant of a washed-up priesthood.

a. Ahijah was the great
grandson of the former high priest Eli.

b. Though Ahijah was
wearing the uniform of the high priest, God had rejected
his family from being priests because of their wickedness.

c. In ch. 13 we learn
that God had also rejected Saul from the throne
because of his faithlessness.

4. So here they are, 2 rejected leaders, sitting
at their ease while opportunity for greatness lies just miles away.

5. The spiritually rejected often unite to pool
their misery & cynicism.

C. Vs. 4-5

4Between the
passes, by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines’
garrison, there was a sharp rock on one side and a sharp rock on
the other side. And the name of one was Bozez, and the name of the
other Seneh. 5The
front of one faced northward opposite Michmash, and the other southward
opposite Gibeah.

1. We know right where this was.

2. The word translated “rock” here
refers to a cliff.

a. This whole region is
cut by east-west running gullies.

b. The one that
separates Gibeah from Michmash has step sides of bare rock.

3. When Jonathan left Gibeah, he followed the
slope of the hill to the bottom of this gully, then along it until he was
opposite the outpost the Philistines had set up to keep an eye on Saul’s
army.

4. Since you always wanted to attack from high
ground, the Philistines had little to fear from an attack climbing the face of
the cliff.

5. Jonathan knew they’d be able to get
close to the outpost because the sentries wouldn’t be looking their
direction.

D. Vs. 6-7

6Then
Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over
to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For nothing
restrains the Lord from
saving by many or by few.” 7So his armorbearer said to him, “Do all that is in
your heart. Go then; here I am with you, according to your heart.”

1. Now that they’ve seen the Philistine
position, Jonathan makes a proposal – “Let’s attack!”

2. This isn’t a whim or an impetuous
dare. It’s the result of sound reasoning.

3. Jonathan had been mulling things over &
had arrived at some important conclusions.

1 - He knew the land belonged
to Israel; the Philistines didn’t belong there,

1) He knew that during the last
couple centuries God had allowed foreigners to oppress Israel as a corrective to her straying from Him.

2) But God had made it clear that
now was a season of deliverance, not oppression.

3) His father Saul had been made
king for this very purpose – to liberate Israel from the Philistines.

4) So their presence on the cliff
above him was just wrong!

2 - As the king’s son,
he knew he was called to make things right.

3 - God possessed more than
enough power to defeat the enemy.

1) Israel couldn’t match the
Philistines in either numbers or weapons,

2) But between God
& the Philistines – it was no contest!

4. Putting all this together, Jonathan arrived
at a brilliant conclusion = Why not go for it?

a. Why not step out
& see if God wanted to use them, right at that moment,
to bring deliverance?

b. After all, if it was
God’s will, then their numbers & gear had little to do with it.

c. Jonathan said it
well: With God, it’s not about the numbers.

d. God can use many; He
can use few – it doesn’t matter what the number is as
long as there’s faith in Him.

e. And in the final
analysis, it only takes one who believes to open the door to the
power & presence of God.

5. Jonathan didn’t have a “special
word” or vision from God on this.

a. No prophet had sent
him on this errand.

b. It was a simple
venture of faith.

c. He said, “It may
be that the Lord will work for us.”

6. Take careful note of that – it’s
important to our application of the lesson here.

a. When someone
launches out on a new endeavor, they’ll often say God told them
to do thus & so.

b. Sometimes things go
well – other times they fail miserably.

c. When they fail, the
challenge comes of trying to figure out if God really spoke.

d. Some people wave
God’s name like a magic wand over their life-choices – claiming
what they’re doing comes at His direction.

e. But little of what
they claim He’s telling them to do works out.

f. Often they
don’t complete or follow through on what they begin.

7. God is not moody. He doesn’t change His
mind. His will is neither whimsical nor flighty.

8. Jonathan didn’t say God had told
him to attack the outpost.

9. He simply coupled what God had said about the
land to his ancestors’ experience of the power of God, and decided to
step out & see if God would do something.

10. He didn’t dress it up in super-spiritual talk
about special revelations. He reasoned -

a. God is faithful
& all powerful.

b. He’s here now
& sees & hears us.

c. He’s made it
clear this is the time of liberation from the Philistines.

d. There are some
Filthy Phillies right there.

e. Let’s see if
God wants to use us!

11. His armor-bearer recognized Jonathan’s proposal as
a spiritual challenge; not a selfish attempt at grabbing fame.

7So his
armorbearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Go then;
here I am with you, according to your heart.”

a. He knew this came
from Jonathan’s heart, not his flesh.

b. It wasn’t an
arrogant attempt to promote himself.

c. It was a
humble response to do something his conscience told him needed to be done.

12. While Jonathan is the one who comes off as the hero
in this story, let’s not forget the role his armor-bearer played.

a. When Jonathan first
left the safety of his home in Gibeah, it was this man he took with him.

b. Now at the foot of
the cliff below the enemy outpost, it’s the armor-bearer he presents the
challenge to.

c. It seems that every
great leader had someone who stood in the background giving support.

1) Abraham had Eliezer

2) Moses had Joshua, who in turn
had Caleb

3) David had Nathan & his
mighty men

4) Daniel had his 3 friends

5) Paul had Timothy & Titus,
& Epaphroditus.

d. Church history is
filled with stories of men & women who by faith rose to meet the challenge
of the time. Most of them had someone whose mission
was to encourage them to press on.

13. The presence & ministry of someone like that is an importantconfirmation of the call to be a leader, specially a leader whose
mission is to open new frontiers for the Kingdom.

E. Vs. 8-10

8Then
Jonathan said, “Very well, let us cross over to these men,
and we will show ourselves to them. 9If they say thus to us, ‘Wait until
we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place and not go up to
them. 10But
if they say thus, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up. For
the Lord has delivered them
into our hand, and this will be a sign to us.”

1. This is wisdom.

2. While it might seem courageous to just rush
into the enemy outpost & start swinging, Jonathan wasn’t going to presume
on God.

3. It’s a fine line between
faith & presumption.

4. Look – if Samuel had to Jonathan,
“Take your armor-bearer & go attack the Philistine outpost at
Michmash, for God will deliver it into your hand,” it would have been a
matter of simple obedience.

5. But Jonathan wasn’t operating with that
kind of direction from God.

6. This was something he’d arrived at on
his own & knew God was not under any obligation to come through.

a. God may very well
want to use him,

b. Or—He may have
another plan in the works Jon didn’t know about.

7. “How to know? Well, let’s
give God an opportunity to make it clear.”

a. We’ll step out
of hiding & shout at the sentries on the top of the cliff.

b. If they say,
“We’re coming to get you,” we’ll take that as a sign
God’s not in this.

c. If they say,
“Come on up,” then God’s going to give us victory.

8. The story of Gideon has several similarities
to this. Gideon also asked for a sign to confirm God’s will.

9. When we read this story, we’re thrilled
by Jonathan’s heroic courage.

a. His example of
stepping out in faith encourages & beckons us to follow his example.

b. But when it comes
down to it, we often balk at stepping out because we fear failing.

c. We fear what others
will say if we fall flat on our face.

d. We don’t speak
to someone about the Lord when a golden opportunity arises because we’re
afraid they’ll get angry, reject, or make fun of us.

e. We don’t sign
up to go on a mission’s trip because we can’t see where the $2,000
is going to come from.

f. Though we get
angry at the school board for indoctrinating our children in immorality &
godlessness, we don’t attend board meetings or say anything because, who
am I anyway? What change can I make?

10. Jonathan’s faith in God wasn’t just seen
when he rushed up that cliff & attacked the outpost.

a. We see it here when
he stepped out & gave God the opportunity to reveal His will.

b. If the Philistines
said, “Wait there, we’ll come down,” there would have been no
less faith on Jonathan’s part.

c. He simply would have known
attacking the outpost was not God’s plan that day.

11. Listen, God delights when we step out as Jonathan did!

a. He loves it when we
open up & give Him an opportunity to use us.

b. He’s looking
for people who lay hold of His love & power, & take bold steps
into new territory to make them know to others.

12. Since God loves it - we ought to love it to – and
that means giving others the room to fail, to step out and
venture big things.

a. If it doesn’t
work out, it they fall flat on their face – well, you know what? At
least they tried!

b. It may not have been
God’s will to bring success in that venture of faith, but because it was
done by faith, God is blessed!

c. A father watches his
toddler daughter crawl over to a table & pull herself upright.

1) She steadies herself, then
tries to walk.

2) She’s way too young &
her legs aren’t strong enough, so down she goes.

3) Is dad displeased because she
falls? No – he’s bursting with pride at her attempt to walk.

d. And so is our divine
Dad when our stepping out in faith is motivated by a desire to walk with Him in
some new venture – even when we fall.

F. Vs. 11-14

11So both
of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the
Philistines said, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where
they have hidden.”

1. Earlier we’re told that when the
Philistines had marched in mass to Michmash, most of the people of the region
had either fled or gone into hiding in the many caves of this area.

12Then the
men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armorbearer, and said,
“Come up to us, and we will show you something.” Jonathan said to
his armorbearer, “Come up after me, for the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel.”

2. This was the sign they’d set for
knowing God was opening the door of victory over the enemy.

3. But now that the sign comes – a
decision has to be made – GO, or not?

4. Jonathan had done the wise thing
& had already made the decision BEFORE he stepped out
of hiding.

5. It was just a matter of collecting the
results.

6. Faith in God did not replace work.
It infused the work with eagerness & joy.

7. How I wish we had a video of Jon scrambling
up that cliff!

a. Was he smiling?
Giggling? Laughing?

b. Was he taunting
them, telling Philistine jokes?

1) How many Philistines does it
take to screw in a light bulb? What’s a light bulb? Exactly!

2) How do you keep the Philistine
army from charging? Take away their credit card.

3) A Canaanite, Ammonite, and
Philistine are running away from the Jews when they come up to a forest and
decide to hide by each climbing a tree.

When the Jews arrive, they go to the
first tree where the Canaanite is, and shout, "We know you're up there;
come down." Thinking fast, the Canaanite in a great impersonation of
a bird says, "Tweet, tweet, tweet..."

The Jews move on to the next tree
where the Ammonite is and once again shout, "We know you're up there; come
down."

The Ammonite taking his cue from the
Canaanite says, "Hoot, Hoot" in a good impersonation of an owl.

The Jews move on to the last tree
where the Philistine is and once again shout, "We know you're up there;
come down."

Having heard the other two get out of
danger by making animal noises, the Philistine thinks for a while, then says,
"Moo.”

13And
Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armorbearer after him; and
they fell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armorbearer killed
them.

8. Though they had to be tired after scrambling
up the cliff & the Philistines had plenty of time to get ready, it was a complete
rout.

9. The enemy Jonathan only incapacitated, the
armor bearer finished off while Jonathan pressed on across the top of the cliff
in his offensive, taking the battle to where ever the enemy ran.

14That
first slaughter which Jonathan and his armorbearer made was about twenty men
within about half an acre of land.

10. This was just the outpost the Philistines had set over
the pass leading from Gibeah to Michmash.

main camp at Michmash.

III. CONCLUSION

A. Confusion

1. When word reached the main camp that their
outpost had been so quickly over run, they panicked & began to flee.

2. In Scripture, this is a frequent reaction of
the enemy when faith is the main weapon used against them.

a. It’s what
happened when Gideon defeated the Midianties.

b. It happened to the
Syrians in 2 Kings 7

c. In 2 Chr. 20, when
the Ammonites, Moabites, & Edomites formed an alliance against Israel, King Jehoshaphat met their huge force by singing praises to God.

d. The enemy was thrown
into such confusion they began killing each other.

3. Jonathan’s victory at Michmash along
with all these other examples proves what Paul says in Ephesians 6 –

a. That though we live
in a physical universe, the real battle is waged in the spiritual
realm.